Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dan marsh on March 10, 2018, 03:45:52 am
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Hi all as most of you know I've just started up . Me an my partner where thinking off trying out a gold , silver , bronze package i know it's probably been bought up befor but just wanted to see if anyone actually dose it and if it is working for them . We are a 2 man team and have realized we really need to be aiming bigger than the £14 to £20 jobs to make decent money . We will be sending emails to management company's soon as well . Was thinking to offer
Bronze package - windows , facia/soffits , down pipes and gutters cleand .
Prices start from
2bed £££
3bed £££
4bed £££
Silver package - windows , facia/soffits , down pipes and gutters cleand and cleard .
Prices start from
2bed £££
3bed £££
4bed £££
Gold package- windows cleand inside and out , facia/soffits down pipes and gutters cleand and cleard .
Prices start from
2bed £££
3bed £££
4bed £££
Conservatorys start from £20
This is just a rough layout and it'll will be spell checked bye my non dyslexic partner so no need to comment on that . Just wonderd what you guys think off this and if any of you have tried it or are doing this . Thanks
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Ime, you can’t really clean 1 without the other. As in , you can’t clean the soffits & fascias without the gutters , down pipes. Would look like half a job cleaning their fascias and leaving their gutters green
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Why cant you make decent money on £14 to £20 Jobs ?
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I agree you can make good money on these prices, of course some houses you can earn more...
I think your conservatory clean start price is more of a concern mate, would deffo put that up especially as these are more one offs
Good luck on your new venture
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Why cant you make decent money on £14 to £20 Jobs ?
This ^^^
If you’ve just started up, you have no idea yet as to how many you can both do in a day.
You may think you cant get any faster, trust me you can and you will.
When I first started, I was told £150 - £200 was the bench mark with two guys in a day....these days if I dont hit at least that on my own I’ve had a bad one, so two of us tend to do a little more.
Perceptions and speed change over time, just keep knocking doors to get the work in and keep cleaning it. When you start getting ‘full’ then you’ll start to know your limitations.
(If your ‘£20 for a conservatory’ includes the roof then triple it, £20 is too low)
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Look down the threads and there is one about charging for a conservatory roof clean. That will give you an idea of prices for conservatory cleans
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If you can't make decent money on £14 - £20 jobs you need to work a bit faster.
The answer will probably be to get him out in his own van. 2 men isn't efficient on small houses as I'm finding out at the minute.
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Are you pricing too low? Is it taking you an hour to clean a £14 house?
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Thanks for the comments so far guys . First of all Regarding conservatorys it dose say prices from . For a small cony that's not that big , not that dirty and not a glass roof I've done it in about an hour so my thinking is like a few has said already I will get quicker . But yes most conservatory I've charged between £30 and £100 . Like i said it's start from prices . The reson I'm thinking about doing this is that over the last 2 days we've done 2 big cleans brining in £410 which took us 7 hours overall so it got me thinking is this the typ off work we should be targeting as a 2 man team new too this an trying to get the money in . An I'm guessing 1 in 3 jobs we would pick up as regular window cleans as well .
Referring to how long it is taking us too clean houses I mean yeah it must be taking us longer than you guys as we've only 4 months expirance . A 3 bed semi first clean is taken us about 30 mins and we are charging on avarege £17 for this . Then on return we get it done in about 20 to 25 mins .
So is no one actually doing this then ?
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Thanks for the comments so far guys . First of all Regarding conservatorys it dose say prices from . For a small cony that's not that big , not that dirty and not a glass roof I've done it in about an hour so my thinking is like a few has said already I will get quicker . But yes most conservatory I've charged between £30 and £100 . Like i said it's start from prices . The reson I'm thinking about doing this is that over the last 2 days we've done 2 big cleans brining in £410 which took us 7 hours overall so it got me thinking is this the typ off work we should be targeting as a 2 man team new too this an trying to get the money in . An I'm guessing 1 in 3 jobs we would pick up as regular window cleans as well .
Referring to how long it is taking us too clean houses I mean yeah it must be taking us longer than you guys as we've only 4 months expirance . A 3 bed semi first clean is taken us about 30 mins and we are charging on avarege £17 for this . Then on return we get it done in about 20 to 25 mins .
So is no one actually doing this then ?
Is it taking 2 of you 25 minutes or 1 person ?
If it’s 2 people, then I think you may be underpricing the jobs . Usually a 3 bed semi would take me about 17 minutes
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I see no reason why you can't earn well on 12-14 quid houses. You will get quicker with experience and self-confidence, so your earnings and hourly rate will rise accordingly.
John
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2 of you taking 20-25 mins for a house that size is not great, you should be aiming that time for one person and possibly being even quicker. I appreciate your not long into it and you will speed up in time so nothing much you can do about that at the moment it just takes time and practise. In all honesty i would be looking at splitting up ( i dont mean business wise) and doing your houses separately.
If your both taking a 50/50 cut of the takings then working together is not going to be as productive and profitable as doing your own houses. This way only really works if your paying someone a wage and even then it's not always the best way to do things, but again this would be something to keep in mind for the near future as i guess at the moment what you need are more customers.
What i would be doing is if your both turning up for 1 house why not just 1 person do the clean while the other goes knocking on doors or sticking a few leaflets out with the neighbours maybe take it in turns so your both perfecting your cleaning methods but also trying to gain new work at the same time (if your working on 3-4 next to each other then you can both do the houses separately.
At the moment your at the hardest part and thats building up a good customer base/round the quicker you get that done the better. Don't take your mindset of this, this is what in the long run will make your round worthwhile focus on the regular repeating customers first as your packages will mainly be 1 offs, and these can be done at weekends or bad weather as sort of extra money (like working overtime).
As far as packages are concerned give it a shot you've nothing to lose while your still building a round, however i would be sticking the min prices up for cons roofs to at least 40-45 bare in mind if you do a cons roof 9 times out of ten you need to clean the guttering and windows as well after (especially if your using virosol etc to clean the roof).
The problem i see with these very low starting prices are you may attract lots of interest but then when you give them a higher price they probably won't bother meaning your just wasting your time quoting (all the customer will have in their head is your minimum price and thats what they will be looking for), with a higher starting price at least you know the customer is still interested at the higher price (it kind of weeds out the people looking for you to do it for next to nothing or for a bargain if that makes sense)
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Dan
I would do a 'QUALITY' leaflet promoting all your services (including the gutter clearing and cladding) with good, clear pictures for EACH SERVICE.
I wouldn't bother about bronze, silver and gold (I think it will just confuse customers).
Whack them out around Glenferness, Talbot Woods, Ferndown, all the biggies and see how you get on.
You could even head down towards Sandbanks if you're feeling 'saucy'.
Also, If you are building a 'round', it is inevitable that you will get all sizes of houses and you will have to learn how to clean them efficiently between the two of you. Obviously, at a later date, you can drop the houses that you don't think are any good, but as you are just starting up, you need everything you can get.
I did a full clean today (including 4 sides of cladding) up in Bearwood.
Give me a bell if you need a hand with your cleaning technique etc.
Robbo
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Oh dear, you might not like my advice.
But basically i would say stop with your promotions and practice, practice and practice some more because the times you are stating are not great at all and im sorry but im not gonna take it easy because your only four months in. Technically your charging customers to practice on their windows.
You need to be getting that time down and thats only going to happen with practice.
When I first started trad, i must have cleaned my own house between 5 and ten times within a day. I used to clean the glass bus stop outside my old house several times a week as practice on larger panels and went round my friends houses as well. When I switched onto wfp, even though I had established work I still practiced on my own house to perfect my technique and on my friends homes. Thats why i get defensive about my own work.
But this is your business and a business to make money and if your taking on more work trying to get more money but your times are rubbish then your going to make your situation worse and not better. But with practice will come better timeings per clean allowing you to take on more work and then I quarantee you will be making money on houses between £14 - £20 each.
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Thanks for the comments so far guys . First of all Regarding conservatorys it dose say prices from . For a small cony that's not that big , not that dirty and not a glass roof I've done it in about an hour so my thinking is like a few has said already I will get quicker . But yes most conservatory I've charged between £30 and £100 . Like i said it's start from prices . The reson I'm thinking about doing this is that over the last 2 days we've done 2 big cleans brining in £410 which took us 7 hours overall so it got me thinking is this the typ off work we should be targeting as a 2 man team new too this an trying to get the money in . An I'm guessing 1 in 3 jobs we would pick up as regular window cleans as well .
Referring to how long it is taking us too clean houses I mean yeah it must be taking us longer than you guys as we've only 4 months expirance . A 3 bed semi first clean is taken us about 30 mins and we are charging on avarege £17 for this . Then on return we get it done in about 20 to 25 mins .
So is no one actually doing this then ?
Is it taking 2 of you 25 minutes or 1 person ?
If it’s 2 people, then I think you may be underpricing the jobs . Usually a 3 bed semi would take me about 17 minutes
Well it takes us about 5 to 7 mins unpacking an packing up an about 10 to 15 mins to clean . I'm sure we will get quicker eventually. It's just there are a lot of window cleaners around my area but a 20 to 30 mins drive away there are a lot of big house's with not so many window cleaners around . That's why I thought this idea might work .
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Dan..what flow rate do you use to do regular cleans, one of the biggest reasons IMO that slows you down is having a low flow rate and trying to conserve/save water maybe thats something to look at to start with.
Also i know we're only talking minutes but your unpacking and putting away seems to long as well, it may be only minutes here and there but they all add up at the end of the day/week.
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Thanks for the comments so far guys . First of all Regarding conservatorys it dose say prices from . For a small cony that's not that big , not that dirty and not a glass roof I've done it in about an hour so my thinking is like a few has said already I will get quicker . But yes most conservatory I've charged between £30 and £100 . Like i said it's start from prices . The reson I'm thinking about doing this is that over the last 2 days we've done 2 big cleans brining in £410 which took us 7 hours overall so it got me thinking is this the typ off work we should be targeting as a 2 man team new too this an trying to get the money in . An I'm guessing 1 in 3 jobs we would pick up as regular window cleans as well .
Referring to how long it is taking us too clean houses I mean yeah it must be taking us longer than you guys as we've only 4 months expirance . A 3 bed semi first clean is taken us about 30 mins and we are charging on avarege £17 for this . Then on return we get it done in about 20 to 25 mins .
So is no one actually doing this then ?
Is it taking 2 of you 25 minutes or 1 person ?
If it’s 2 people, then I think you may be underpricing the jobs . Usually a 3 bed semi would take me about 17 minutes
Well it takes us about 5 to 7 mins unpacking an packing up an about 10 to 15 mins to clean . I'm sure we will get quicker eventually. It's just there are a lot of window cleaners around my area but a 20 to 30 mins drive away there are a lot of big house's with not so many window cleaners around . That's why I thought this idea might work .
End of the day its upto you guys. Most of us on here have learnt from our own experiences overthe years and theres something said for that.
But there certainly isnt anything wrong with travelling to better work.
Whats your set up for it taking so long? Sorry i cant remember what you decided on, was it one van mount and the other on trolley?
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P1w1 , robbo 333 , Johnny b and nathankaye thank you lots off good advice. Splitting to 2 vans won't work for as no money left in the pot for a second van unfortunately .
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We will be sending emails to management company's soon as well .
;D ;D ;D ;D
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Up your flow and try cleaning faster
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Dan..what flow rate do you use to do regular cleans, one of the biggest reasons IMO that slows you down is having a low flow rate and trying to conserve/save water maybe thats something to look at to start with.
Also i know we're only talking minutes but your unpacking and putting away seems to long as well, it may be only minutes here and there but they all add up at the end of the day/week.
Flow rate when we first started we were on 75 but a freind off ours who we were cleaning his house told us off spotting on his windows this was in the first week we stared so we put it down to 50 and the next clean was ok . But then I saw a window cleaner I know an he said all his pumps are at 35 so tried this as felt we were still using to much water (most likely because we are just to slow at mo ) but we found it wasn't enough so we put it back up to 45 and that's what we have kept to . We do put it up to 50/55 sometimes for any bad first cleans and I am thinking to put it up to 50 for good now . Not sure
With packing unpacking to be honest it's a guess as I've never timed us but we've not got more than half a days work at any time so never in a real rush . We will go fast next week and time our selfs .
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Thanks for the comments so far guys . First of all Regarding conservatorys it dose say prices from . For a small cony that's not that big , not that dirty and not a glass roof I've done it in about an hour so my thinking is like a few has said already I will get quicker . But yes most conservatory I've charged between £30 and £100 . Like i said it's start from prices . The reson I'm thinking about doing this is that over the last 2 days we've done 2 big cleans brining in £410 which took us 7 hours overall so it got me thinking is this the typ off work we should be targeting as a 2 man team new too this an trying to get the money in . An I'm guessing 1 in 3 jobs we would pick up as regular window cleans as well .
Referring to how long it is taking us too clean houses I mean yeah it must be taking us longer than you guys as we've only 4 months expirance . A 3 bed semi first clean is taken us about 30 mins and we are charging on avarege £17 for this . Then on return we get it done in about 20 to 25 mins .
So is no one actually doing this then ?
Is it taking 2 of you 25 minutes or 1 person ?
If it’s 2 people, then I think you may be underpricing the jobs . Usually a 3 bed semi would take me about 17 minutes
Well it takes us about 5 to 7 mins unpacking an packing up an about 10 to 15 mins to clean . I'm sure we will get quicker eventually. It's just there are a lot of window cleaners around my area but a 20 to 30 mins drive away there are a lot of big house's with not so many window cleaners around . That's why I thought this idea might work .
End of the day its upto you guys. Most of us on here have learnt from our own experiences overthe years and theres something said for that.
But there certainly isnt anything wrong with travelling to better work.
Whats your set up for it taking so long? Sorry i cant remember what you decided on, was it one van mount and the other on trolley?
650 van mount with a spliter going to two pure freedom pumps . 2 reals at the back off the van raised up on I thick layer of wood which has been put on top off the ply boarded wheel arches . Poles put in big down pipes at the top of interea roof .tried to post pics but having some probs doing it for some reason. Loads of pics on our fb page if you want to have a look Nathan. Swish window cleaning services
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Dan..what flow rate do you use to do regular cleans, one of the biggest reasons IMO that slows you down is having a low flow rate and trying to conserve/save water maybe thats something to look at to start with.
Also i know we're only talking minutes but your unpacking and putting away seems to long as well, it may be only minutes here and there but they all add up at the end of the day/week.
Flow rate when we first started we were on 75 but a freind off ours who we were cleaning his house told us off spotting on his windows this was in the first week we stared so we put it down to 50 and the next clean was ok . But then I saw a window cleaner I know an he said all his pumps are at 35 so tried this as felt we were still using to much water (most likely because we are just to slow at mo ) but we found it wasn't enough so we put it back up to 45 and that's what we have kept to . We do put it up to 50/55 sometimes for any bad first cleans and I am thinking to put it up to 50 for good now . Not sure
With packing unpacking to be honest it's a guess as I've never timed us but we've not got more than half a days work at any time so never in a real rush . We will go fast next week and time our selfs .
You need to up your flow rate and certainly dont run it as low as your friends. Your rights that its down to being slow as to why your using alot of water at this flow but as I said before, practice is the key because its all down to technique. My water has a tds of 011 at the moment and I still clean with no spotting.
Your 2nd clean being spot free may have nothing to do with the flow rate but more down to a better technique. It is possible for first cleans to leave spotting for numerous reason but mainly either technique and/or bad seals.
When doing the top line I normally go left ti right horizontally for the top five inches and then up n down for the rest of the windows. One reason for this is because going up n down pushes the water up higher than the brush and into the seals, which may be problematic. Also pending your jets being used and rinsing off, if you pay attention to the radius of the water spray when near the top seals.
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Dan next time you go out try different flow rates and varying amounts of scrubbing/rinsing.
Then when you have finished go back around your work and check it all, you'll learn a lot about cleaning techniques like this.
If you have say a conny on one house go around it and srub/rinse a lot on one side, a bit less the next and less again on the next part.
Go back later in the day and you will soon find out how much you scrubbing/rinsing you should be doing.
I am around 5 years in to WFP and I'm still learning and trying new stuff, it will take time mate. A BOVE ALL JUST MAKE SURE YOUR WORK IS HIGH QUALITY.
Are you brushes the right brushes for you? Are you using a decent pole that's not too heavy? How are spending so long packing/unpacking, I simply open the door and grab the pole and away I go. Takes me seconds mate.
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It does take time but 1 day you’ll be amazed at how quick you are
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To be honest this post was mainly about wot you all think of package deals and in your opinion whether u think this could work . We are quite happy with our set up and we know over time we will get quicker. At the mo we don't really have to many days where we are fully booked so we don't really need to go fast but as the work builds up we will get quicker I'm sure . We have 4 difrent typs of brush that we use accordingly and we have a slx 27 and a 32 and yes we are looking to get a 25 to replace the 32 once buisnes picks up as it's too heave for every day work . I only started thinking about this package deal after making £410 7 hours an knowing there are lots of nice big house's not to far from us an being a 2 man set up this could work well . But off course still trying to bring in the normal window cleaning work as well. Thanks for all your tips , advice and opinions guys much appreciated
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Don’t want to put you down but I think you are making a simple job complicated why not just ask customers if they would like there gutters emptying,or gfs cleaned you don’t need the gold: silver etc we have an arrangement with several estate agents in our area when someone puts there property on the market the estate agent recommends us to clean the whole property if it’s needed gfs, vac gutters , clean render walls drive ways paths etc works very well for us a few hundred pounds on the sale of the property isn’t Evan thought of by the house seller , also don’t understand why it’s taking you 5-7 muinets set up pack up time : we do 3 bed modern estate houses in under 10 muinets total time , maybe you need to look at where you are parking or go to the furthest point and work back towards the van , again not sure how long you have been wfp but it does take time to become proficient and find the best fastest way of doing a job Ime sure it will come in time just keep trying different techniques and watch others way of working that’s how I started off
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Dan, your last message seems a little defensive, but you did ask experienced wfp for their/our opinions. If more work comes in faster than you can deal with then No you wont start to improve speed.
Theres great advice being given here but at the same time your taking your business in the right direction.
Just had a look at your facebook page, nice van n set up as well 👍
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There's 3 bed semis and 3 bed semis but a typical one would take between 10-20 mins one man.
That from pulling up to leaving.
Speed comes with confidence, when you realise you can go faster and still do a decent job without complaints.
Flow rate for me is full whack.
Everybody over cleans at first you will get faster over time without thinking about it.
But definitely look into getting 2 vans out.
And try not to clean with water above 000 TDs where possible, that's bad advice. You might get away with or you might not but you want to know that if you do get a call back it's not the water it's down to technique. As you get more experienced and cocky you can let it slip a bit if you find you have no problems but I've had spotting at 003 so don't believe this rubbish that a certain TDS is ok. Just use pure.
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Wasn't being defensive at all Nathan I enjoy herring wot everyone has to say . Comes to water we bye from spotless so water should be pure . Like i said maybe my packing an unpacking estimation was a bit over the top but again as I said at the mo we are not too busy so no need to be on it. But we will push our selfs next week just to see how we do but also making sure we do a good job . We will defo put our flow up a bit more as well and see how it go's . Cheers chaps
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To answer you question Dan.
Why not do a package deal? I f it makes you stand out a little and gives you something to present to your customers that makes you look more professional.
Then go for it, give it a whirl and see how it turns out.
Its good to be creative and explore new ways.
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To answer you question Dan.
Why not do a package deal? I f it makes you stand out a little and gives you something to present to your customers that makes you look more professional.
Then go for it, give it a whirl and see how it turns out.
Its good to be creative and explore new ways.
That's it Paul being new to it I have the time to try out difrent ways of picking up work . I know the way i have been getting work so far is they you have all done it for years and it dose work you just have to be patient yet hungry and work hard for it and it will come . But like I said befor there are quite a lot off window cleaners around my area but just a 20 to 30 min drive away not so many as most of them have refined there rounds around the main part off town so I think there's a gap in the market to try and do something difrent . Custermers like to know or at least see wot it will cost so bye seeing a rough guide might work who knows . And as we are a 2 man team if it go's well with the thousands off very big houses around the outskirts we could make some good money . I know 75% off them will be one off jobs but I'm sure we will pick up some regular work from it . Any way will only be doing this as a fb campaign for now and see wot we get if anything lol . We will still carie on doing wot we've been doing up untill now knocking on doors. With the time it takes us to do a 3bed house trust me after 4 months we are already a lot quicker than the first month . You would all 😂if I told u how long it was taking us at the start . We feel very confident now on wfp just need to get quicker which again I know will come with time. Trad work is where we still need to put a lot more practise in . 🤞on wards an upwards . Ps thanks for actually answering my origanl question 😉👍
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If you want to push for that sort of work, why not offer a ‘discounted’ gutter/fascia clean for all new customers agreeing to a regular window cleaning service?
Let them know what the ‘original’ price would be and then the ‘discounted’ price so they feel like they have got a deal.
(Just put your actual price as your ‘discounted’ if you’re that way inclined)
You’ll get a few that mess you around on the regular clean but on the whole you’ll get a bump up in the initial job and hopefully build you’re regular window cleaning customer base at the same time.
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Thanks for the comments so far guys . First of all Regarding conservatorys it dose say prices from . For a small cony that's not that big , not that dirty and not a glass roof I've done it in about an hour so my thinking is like a few has said already I will get quicker . But yes most conservatory I've charged between £30 and £100 . Like i said it's start from prices . The reson I'm thinking about doing this is that over the last 2 days we've done 2 big cleans brining in £410 which took us 7 hours overall so it got me thinking is this the typ off work we should be targeting as a 2 man team new too this an trying to get the money in . An I'm guessing 1 in 3 jobs we would pick up as regular window cleans as well .
Referring to how long it is taking us too clean houses I mean yeah it must be taking us longer than you guys as we've only 4 months expirance . A 3 bed semi first clean is taken us about 30 mins and we are charging on avarege £17 for this . Then on return we get it done in about 20 to 25 mins .
So is no one actually doing this then ?
it takes you 20 to 25 minutes to clean a 3 bed semi . Really . If we don't hit 12 semis in an hour I know the lads been on his phone again .
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So for the 10th time it was just a guess as we've never timed our selfs . Yesterday we did time our selfs for the first time and it took us 16 mins from getting out the van to getting back . Please rember we are only 4 months in to this job so not sure why your so surprised it was taking us over half hour when we first started . Having never done window cleaning work in our lives I think doing a good job in 16 mins is good and we are happy with how our progression is coming on . Once again no opinion on the actual original post about cleaning packages . As I said im new but I am absalutly amazed as to how you can get out the van clean a house an pack everything up an move on to the next house all in 5 mins .
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Guess there’s no harm in trying the packages, it might take off, it may also be a waste of time... only way to find out is try.
I PERSONALLY don’t think it will take off like you want, as someone mentioned you don’t really do one without the other (gutters / fascias) or I never have anyway. I think the discounted gutters is a better way of putting it though mate, for new window customers, it is sort of in the middle in terms of giving them something to think about without confusing what you do and your prices too much.
Anyway all the best whatever you decide, it’s your round and with this if you want to take 5 mins or 5 days Cleaning 1 house, you know what works for you to provide a quality job - although I would continue on the path of getting it down as you are 👍🏿 Keep it up
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Stick with the Windows m8 you’ll earn more,you are giving yourself more work for less money you can earn just by knocking out windows all day long trust me.
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Ok cheers for the advice chaps I'm going to carie on doing the canvassing as I know the regular 8 weekly cleans is my bread an butter . But as we are only just starting up and have some time on our hands we will just do a small fb campaign for now and try it out but we will be changing the package option to just one ....... diamond package a whole exterior clean . 2 bed starting from and so on instead of 3 difrent typs off package which could get the custy confused an say o f it I can't be bothered in intern possibly confuses us us well . It's just a bit to complicated . I think . Once again thanks for the good advice chaps